Hatching (7)
Cheonsol was stunned. Born and raised within the Absolu Church, she knew less of the wider world than most outsiders — yet she still possessed a solid grasp of common sense.
Among that knowledge was the breeding method of the Vampir. A great race that had crushed the vampires in war and driven those worthless fake bats to extinction. For the Vampir, there were two ways to create offspring.
The first was to forge a child from the essence of life itself — blood drawn from hundreds of living beings. The second was the traditional method: conception through coupling, followed by birth.
With the former, so long as the materials were ready, a descendant could be produced in mere minutes. The previous cult leader — the one Cheonsol had defeated in a martial duel to seize the title — had been born that way.
With the latter, the child grew for several months inside a parent's body. Cheonsol herself had been born that way.
Those of natural birth were typically scorned. A child condensed from hundreds of blood essences was far stronger than one created through the union of man and woman.
Viewed through the lens of a class system, it was the difference between high nobility and commoners. Occasionally a prodigy like Cheonsol would appear — but as a rule, that was how things stood.
Which was why she had assumed the egg she had laid would need months of careful tending before it hatched. She had been wrong. Right now, in this very moment, Cheonsol could sense the life inside the shell thrashing with restless force.
Could it be that the blood essence sealed in this lady's virgin blood, combined with the vital energy in the Mad Demon's seed, was absorbed and shortened the incubation?
No sane Vampir would ever store virgin blood inside her own womb. If that hypothesis was wrong, it might simply be a racial trait of the Mad Demon's kind.
I was told it would be born within ninety days. It seems the difference between this lady's race and the Mad Demon's has produced a discrepancy.
"Looks like it's about to hatch. Let's put some clothes on first."
"Ah."
The moment she heard the Mad Demon's words, she became aware of her own situation. She was still taking him inside her. The instant she remembered the thing she had forgotten, the deep ache in her pelvis and the swollen fullness of her lower belly came flooding back.
"Very well."
If she stayed like this any longer, she was going to climax all over again. Before meeting the Mad Demon, she had never even touched herself. Now that she knew the taste of a cock, her body had grown far too sensitive.
He slid free with a wet pull.
"Hah—?!"
"What's wrong?"
"It is nothing."
She could not possibly admit that the drag of his cock scraping along her inner walls had made her feel it. It was far too embarrassing.
Freed at last, the Vampir released her own blood through her nipples. She guided the droplets clinging to her clothes and dressed herself as naturally as breathing.
Yohan, who had been about to put on his own clothes, went speechless at the sight of Cheonsol suiting up like Iron Man.
"..."
"Why do you stare so?"
"Because that was cool as hell."
"You are far too fond of this lady. Any Vampir can do as much. What is there to find impressive?"
"No. That was genuinely amazing."
For a brief moment, Yohan felt as though he had been transported back to his boyhood. If he learned that technique, couldn't he become Iron Man himself?
I need to master internal energy cultivation, and fast.
Which meant he had to keep crafting items and selling them. He should forge a suit of iron armor, too. Sliding into flying metal plating was way cooler than cloth clothes any day!
Cheonsol scolded him for freezing mid-dress.
Crack.
"Do you not hear that sound? Put your clothes on at once."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll get dressed — but you've got to teach me that technique later. No promise, no clothes. Absolute dealbreaker."
"You would still jest in a moment such as this? You are this lady's husband. All knowledge shall be shared. Now hurry and dress yourself."
"Got it."
Crack-crack.
In the meantime, the fractures in the egg had spread further. The center of the crack running down the middle bulged outward.
Sensing the life force surge even stronger, Cheonsol cried out in excitement.
"Yes! Lan-lan-i! Push harder! This mother longs to see you!"
Crack-crack-crack. Snap. Crack-crack. Snap.
Bolstered by Cheonsol's cheering, Lan-lan-i hammered away at the shell with everything she had. At last a piece of the shell fell to the floor, and Cheonsol fought back the tears welling in her eyes.
How beautiful was a child striving with the will to be born. In that moment, Cheonsol understood why parents who had lost their children to her had come seeking vengeance with such hatred.
She already felt this much affection for a child whose face she had not even seen. How much more must it have been for parents who had raised their offspring into adulthood over decades?
Of course, this lady feels no guilt toward them.
They had attacked her, so she had killed them. And that was fortunate. This child would become a minion — even if she lost a battle, she would never meet a true death.
With a Vampir's natural lifespan plus the minion buff, if she lived out her full years she would last a thousand or more. Even if some accident struck, she would still live for centuries.
"Whoa. Kid's got some serious power. I heard that if a baby can't break the shell alone, the parents have to crack it open for them. But she's doing just fine on her own."
"Heh heh. Is she not this lady's child — and yours? Of course she would be vigorous. Look even now. How full of life she is."
"I still can't sense mana, so..."
"A pity."
She meant it. If the Mad Demon could have felt the mana flooding toward Lan-lan-i, he would have shared the same overwhelming emotion she felt now.
By the time we have a second child, he will have awakened to mana... What is this lady thinking right now!
The first had only just begun to hatch, and already she was planning a second. Was she not loving the Mad Demon a little too much?
Crack.
Another piece of shell fell away and the hole widened, and Cheonsol's thoughts stopped cold. Right now, she needed to witness the birth of her firstborn.
Through a tiny opening, an even tinier fist punched out and pulled back, over and over. Cheonsol, still drowning in emotion, felt a flicker of doubt.
A newborn throwing punches?
Children born of blood essence possessed the body of a five-year-old, so it would have been possible. But this child had been born from an egg.
"Mad Demon. Is this also a trait of your race?"
"Wasn't it a Vampir thing? Human newborns can't even crawl, let alone throw punches. Must be a skill effect."
"I see."
This was the world of the gods, where Vampir common sense no longer applied. Nothing that happened here should be surprising. The hole widened further — and the moment the baby poked her head out, Cheonsol completely lost her composure.
"How utterly adorable! How utterly adorable! How can such a precious life even exist? Is it because she is this lady's child — and yours? Truly, she is beyond lovely!"
"Yeah, I think so too."
The baby was cute, sure — but Cheonsol already showing full-blown doting-parent symptoms was even cuter.
Unaware of Yohan's true thoughts, Cheonsol reached out without thinking. And then the baby, having fully broken free of the egg, planted both feet on the floor and stood.
The sight was so adorable it made her head spin. As a newborn, her hair had not fully grown in — but what she had was jet-black and sticking up in little points. Her eyes held a red light inherited from Cheonsol. Her skin was pure white, yet her cheeks bloomed with a healthy flush of color.
And crowning it all was that tiny frame. Born from an egg the size of a hen's egg, she was no bigger than Cheonsol's finger — which only made her more precious still.
"She looks like a fairy from the legends!"
"Yeah, I think so too."
The baby looked at the two of them, both drowning in emotion, and opened her mouth.
"Mom. Mad Demon."
Cheonsol clutched her heart.
"Haaah—! Did you hear that just now? Lan-lan-i called this lady Mom! Yes! This lady is our Lan-lan-i's mother!"
"Why am I Mad Demon?"
"Aren't you Mad Demon?"
The baby tilted her head. The sight of a child who looked like a tiny doll doing that made Cheonsol's heart hammer in her chest.
"Lan-lan-i. Would you call this lady once more?"
"Mom!"
"Come into your mother's arms!"
"Mom!!"
Cheonsol gathered the tiny life into her embrace. How small, how warm, how precious, how fragile...
Is she fragile?
For a newborn, her life force was absurdly strong. Still — she was tiny, so she must be fragile.
"So why am I Mad Demon?"
"What on earth is going on?! I suddenly have one more minion?!"
Sophia flung the door open in a panic. It slammed into the wall with a bang, but Yohan paid it no mind and kept muttering.
"Why Mad Demon, though."
Cheonsol got called Mom. Was the kid playing favorites? That hurt. Seriously.
*
"Mom!"
"Hnnk!"
"Hawa!!"
Cradled in Cheonsol's arms, Lan-lan-i called for her mother and beamed. Those big eyes curved into crescent moons, and both Cheonsol and Sophia clutched their chests.
Normally, Yohan's gaze would have been stolen by Sophia's chest spilling out between her fingers — but right now he had no bandwidth for something that trivial.
"Lan-lan-i. Can you call for Daddy too?"
"Mad Demon!"
"Pffft—!"
"Not Mad Demon — Daddy. Try saying it. Daddy."
"Mad Demon!!"
"Kid's stubborn as hell..."
Who did she even take after? He was a flexible guy, so it had to be Cheonsol.
"The child looks just like Yohan. She's already showing her father's personality."
"Does Master think so as well? It is truly fortunate she is a girl. Had she been a boy, she would have become a second Mad Demon."
"If she takes after me..."
His conscience twinged, so he couldn't bring himself to say that would be a good thing. She'd end up sex-obsessed, wouldn't she.
"Heh heh. So the old saying that a man only grows up once he has a child was true after all. Even the Mad Demon has sprouted a shred of conscience."
"If we have lots of kids, do you think Yohan will evolve into a normal person?"
"What do you mean, evolve? I am perfectly normal."
"He still hasn't grown up, has he?"
"Indeed."
Weird. He was losing a war of words. Of course — a goddess and a mother...! She'd already leveled up that fast!
"Mom. Hungry. Gimme boob suckies."
"Lan-lan-i! Where did you learn such words?!"
"Mad Demon?"
"Mad Demon...!"
Hey. Why was she that angry. He hadn't deliberately taught the kid about boob suckies. This was genuinely unfair.
"May this lady drink of your blood? To give Lan-lan-i milk, your blood is required."
"Is that why you were glaring at me?"
"Glaring? That was a gaze seeking permission."
So he'd misread it. Good. He stripped off his top to make the blood-drinking easier — and Sophia, face burning red, whipped her head away.
"Lady Sophia, why are you looking somewhere else? What's there to be embarrassed about?"
"I am not! I'm checking Lan-lan-i's info!"
Oh. He was curious about that too. He wanted to see it together.